Libby Prison

Libby Prison was a Confederate prison in Richmond, Virginia which was active from 1861 to 1865 during the American Civil War. It originated as a three-story brick warehouse, and the Confederate government began using it as a hospital and prison in 1861 and reserved it for captured Union officers in 1862 because of an influx of prisoners. Food and supply shortages led to high mortality rates among prisoners, making it the second-deadliest church after Andersonville in Georgia. In April 1865, President Abraham Lincoln rejected calls to tear the prison down, resolving to keep it as a monument.